


The Grass is Greener

by somehowunbroken



Series: The Grass is Greener [1]
Category: DCU, X-Factor (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 15:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when you put a guy who can get anything to grow, a guy who can teleport things, and a guy who can create earthquakes in the same room?</p><p>An underground urban land reclamation group, obviously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Grass is Greener

**Author's Note:**

  * For [defcontwo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/defcontwo/gifts).



> For defcontwo, because somehow a conversation about Jason being earth-aligned turned into the bones of this.
> 
> Thanks to ariadne83 for reading this through for me.

Tim is pretty sure that Jason doesn't want to tell him where he got the idea, but there are really only so many places that Jason goes that aren't his own house or Tim's house, and Tim would put money on Jason not coming up with it on his own while comparing sale prices on sandwich cookies at the grocery store. He raises an eyebrow when he's sure Jason is looking. "Did Ivy put you up to this?"

"What? No! Of course she didn't." Jason looks him dead in the eye while he says it, eyes widening fractionally when Tim just raises the eyebrow higher.

He's probably the worst liar that Tim has ever met, and Tim grew up with his father in the house.

"Who did, then?" Julio asks. He's got his left eyebrow raised to Tim's right, and is somehow managing to look twice as skeptical as Tim feels. Tim is at least 65% sure that Julio is the best roommate in the history of roommates. He really beats the guy Tim had to kick out a few months ago for not paying rent, and the guy before that who thought that washing socks was bad luck… okay, so he's definitely in the top third of roommates that Tim's had. The fact that he's pretty much Jason-proof is a bonus.

Jason turns the Innocent Eyes on Julio. "Me? I mean, I thought of it."

"You're awful at this," Julio informs Jason, flicking something out of his trail mix at Jason's head. Jason waves his hand at it almost reflexively, and it's only the fact that Tim knows what's coming that lets him get into position to teleport the quickly-growing pumpkin away, roots and all. They have yet to figure out how Jason can make seeds that have been roasted grow into living things, but as far as Tim knows, he's the only one who ever bothered to figure out how his powers work, so. There's that.

"Could you not do that in the apartment?" Tim asks, narrowing his eyes at Jason. "You aren't the one who has to walk on this rug all day. You wouldn't have to deal with the feeling of the rug squelching every time you stepped on it for a week."

"Tell him not to throw things at me!" Jason says, gesturing to Julio.

"Tell him to tell me who put him up to this," Julio shoots back, not even looking at Tim.

Tim rolls his eyes. "I'm trying to get him to tell _me_ who put him up to this. I don't think he'll just-"

" _Fine_ , okay, it was Ivy," Jason says, sighing explosively as he drops onto the sofa beside Tim. "That doesn't make it a bad idea!"

"She's a supervillain," Julio points out. "Plus ten bad idea points."

"She's a redhead," Jason returns. "That should negate a few points by your scale, right?"

"Attractive supervillain," Julio says thoughtfully. He looks like he's actually considering it for a minute before he shakes his head. "Nope. Still a bad idea."

"Tim," Jason whines.

Tim sighs. Sometimes he regrets leaving Gotham; he loves the way the city moves and lives and changes, sometimes while you're looking but mostly while you aren't, and he loves how easy it is to lose yourself in one part and find yourself in another part entirely. Mostly he misses how cheap the rent on his crappy apartment used to be, because he'd been able to keep his own space that was just his, somewhere he could pop in and out of when he needed not to be around whatever situation he found himself in. He definitely can't afford anything like that in New York, not even in Mutant Town.

"I don't love that it came from Ivy, but it's not a completely terrible idea," he says at last. "How would it work, though?"

Jason smiles, apparently satisfied, and Tim tries to be surreptitious in looking around to make sure nothing is spontaneously growing in through the windows. Everything looks fine, but he makes a mental note to see if the scraggly bushes in the planter by the front door suddenly need a trim. Tim turns back to Jason, glad to see that Julio looks more or less like he's interested in the idea. That's either a great sign or an awful one, depending on how Jason's explanation goes.

"Well," Jason says, "here's what I was thinking."

-0-

"You're sure," Tim asks for the fourth time. It's pretty clear that the building in front of them is in no way, shape, or form fit for tenants; even the people who had been squatting in these buildings have left for greener pastures. Tim himself has been inside, just to check, and only one of the four buildings they've walked through has something that could be termed "a roof."

"I'm sure," Julio repeats. Four times is probably his limit on how many times he's going to indulge Tim's need for absolute confirmation of his work. He's made damn sure that everyone knows how good he is at computers, and Tim is trying not to draw careful assumptions about Julio based on his constant need to be useful.

(They probably make good roommates because they're both kind of a mess, Tim's brain tells him helpfully. Tim tells his brain to kindly fuck off, he's busy, thanks. For once, it appears to listen.)

"Look, the whole square block is condemned. It's so shitty that the rats have moved on," Jason says. "Julio did his computer voodoo and found the official city records, we've walked through and confirmed that there isn't anyone living in any of the buildings. We're not getting more sure without involving someone with a different power set."

Tim shrugs. "We could ask-"

"No," Julio cuts in. "Can we just – look, if you want to bring M in, fine, okay, but can we bring her in after? Like, once we're sure that this is both a thing that works in real life and a thing we're not going to get arrested for? Because if I have to hear her bail speech again…"

"Yeah, yeah, okay," Tim says, blowing out a breath. "We're all sure. Let's do it."

"Thought you'd never ask," Julio says, grinning. He pulls his hands out of his pockets and rolls his wrists, cracking his fingers for what Tim can only assume is effect. "Might be a good idea to take a step back."

"Yeah, okay, showoff," Jason mutters. He doesn't look like he's going anywhere, but Jason has only seen Julio in action from afar, because it's easiest to get Jason into position a few blocks away from the fight and have him do his commune-with-dirt thing where he's not in danger of having bits of building or a stray assassin falling on him while he's occupied. Tim grabs him and yanks him back a few yards.

Julio gives them a lopsided smirk. "Safety first," he says, and then his hands are glowing softly and the ground is shaking, trembling, and the buildings are falling in on themselves. It takes a solid five minutes – Julio had been pretty sure that he could get them down faster, but the smaller he makes the tremors, the less chance there is of collateral damage to nearby buildings – but eventually he steps back, nodding.

"There's a little bit of the foundation left, I think, but we'll deal with that when we get to it," he says, apparently satisfied. "Stage one complete."

"You're not going to do that every time, are you," Tim sighs, stepping forward. "That's going to get old, Rictor."

"Oh, I'm sorry, _Popcorn_ ," Julio retorts, grin spreading. "It's time for stage two, though, since we're talking about it."

"I hate everything," Tim mutters. He takes a minute to look around, noting the bigger pieces that he needs to move first. It's easy enough to picture the storage space he'd envisioned for this project, so he takes a deep breath and _thinks_ at the first chunk of concrete. It pops out of its spot instantly with the irritating noise that had earned Tim his nickname. Tim envisions the concrete on the floor of the storage space, and once he sees it settle down in its place, he turns to the next piece.

It's a long process. Anything that would have decomposed in the buildings is long since gone; in order for this to work, Tim has to get as much of the concrete and glass and other assorted junk out of the space as he can. It's not difficult – not once he's moved the biggest pieces, anyway – but it's time-consuming, and when Jason steps in for the Julio-titled Stage Three, Tim wants nothing more than to sit down for five minutes. Or maybe an hour.

"Do green things," Tim says, giving Jason a thumbs-up as he stumbles backwards. Jason shoots him a look as Julio grabs his arm.

"I've got him, Oak," Julio says, slinging his arm around Tim's waist. "You heard the man. Green this place up."

"Lots of green, incoming," Jason says. He pulls a baggie from one of his pockets, and when he crouches down and pours it out onto the ground, Tim can see that it's full of seeds. Lots of seeds, different shapes and sizes and colors, and when Jason closes his eyes and pushes his fingers into the newly cleared ground, they tumble across the ground before rooting themselves and growing. Jason had rhapsodized a little when he'd started talking about what he wanted to plant, going on about different kinds of grass and what trees would flourish in an urban setting. Tim had zoned out a little (he loves Jason like Jason loves plants, but it's not math; much to Jason's dismay, it's not as simple as Tim loves Jason and Jason loves plants so Tim loves plants) but Julio had stepped right in, and between the two of them, they'd come up with a good mix of things to put in the space.

Jason gets it to grow just right in a matter of minutes, and when he stands up his hands are covered in the dirt that he'd buried them in. Or, well, soil, Tim thinks, it's soil now, the good kind of dirt that feeds the plants. It's possible that he's been dating a half-plant guy for too long, since he's correcting himself in his head about this kind of thing, but it's equally possible that he really needs some protein after using his power so much.

"You in there?" Julio asks, poking Tim in the side. "Hey, Oak, I think we might need to skip the benches. I'm not sure Popcorn can pop 'em out without popping himself unconscious."

"Stop saying 'pop'," Tim complains, pushing away from Julio. "I can handle it. Show me where."

"We can come back and do it later," Jason offers, slipping his arm around Tim and curling his fingers against Tim's hip. It's points in favor of him hanging around Jason too long that the scent of soil and growing things calms Tim a little, centers him, helps him find the space he'd put the benches in.

"Let's get it done so we don't have to return to the scene," Tim says. "I have four matching benches and about twenty random ones. Pick your poison."

"I vote random," Julio volunteers. "We'll call it 'character.'"

"Random sounds good," Jason agrees. "Nothing with a-"

"-flower design, I know," Tim finishes. "I actually do listen when you talk, as surprising as that might be."

Jason shrugs, and the motion moves Tim's shoulders. "I'm shocked. Put one over there."

Tim pops a bench into place in the space Jason is pointing to and follows suit with five more randomly selected but un-flowered benches. He shakes his head when the last one settles into place, blinking to get the thought of benches out of his mind. His visualization vanishes, and when Tim looks around, he has to let out a low whistle.

"Hey, look," he says, grinning and letting Jason drag him towards home. "We made a park."

-0-

"What did you even do," Monet asks later that week. She's carrying a newspaper, which makes Tim raise an eyebrow, but when she slaps it down in front of him he immediately gets why.

"Uh," he says, looking at the front-page spread of the community newspaper. _From Mean to Green_ , the headline shouts. _Local condemned lots get environmentally friendly makeover; mayor stymied_.

"Hey, we _stymied_ the mayor," Jason says from behind Tim. Tim turns to see him holding his hand out to Julio, waggling his fingers until he gets his high-five. "Go us. We rock."

"Technically, we un-rock," Julio says dodging when Monet brandishes another newspaper. "We… green? Grow?"

"We made a park," Tim cuts in. He's not sure he wants to know what exactly Julio thinks they _do_. "The buildings were all slated for demolition, but nobody was going to do anything about them. We took a little initiative, that's all."

Monet snorts. "That's more than 'a little initiative,' Snap and Crackle. I can't even imagine what a space big enough to store all that junk looks like in your head."

"Don't make Tim talk about his power," Jason groans. "Seriously, M, if you're going to talk mind powers and all the ways in which they don't make sense, please at least let me leave first."

"Don't let the door hit you," Monet says, turning to Tim. "Seriously, did you pass out? Or should I be asking how long you were out for?"

"I didn't pass out," Tim grumbles. "Much. It was good practice."

"You didn't pass out _much_ ," Monet echoes, shaking her head. "Do we need to go over degrees of passing out, Tim? Because there's really only 'conscious' and 'not conscious,' so I'm kind of wondering where 'much' falls."

"He got a little woozy, we fed him chicken nuggets, he was fine," Julio says. "He slept for almost twelve hours that night, but there wasn't any passing out."

Monet just stares, and okay, Tim can see where she's coming from. Chicken soup is pretty well known as a cure-all, but chicken nuggets… aren't. Still, protein generally helps when he overextends himself, and since neither he nor Julio are what anyone would call excellent at cooking, chicken nuggets were the cure they had on hand.

"And they were shaped like Disney characters," Jason adds. "There's no way you don't feel better after taking a bite out of Stitch, am I right?"

"You are all dead to me," Monet announces, staring for another few seconds before slowly shaking her head and leaving the room.

Julio cocks his head at the door after she leaves. "So, do you think we ruined our chances of asking her to help out next time?"

"It's possible," Tim says, shrugging. "Or maybe not. We should probably do the whole 'best behavior' thing for a few days before we ask."

"Well, we'll need a few days to figure out where we're going next anyway," Jason says. "I only had that place in mind. I'm sure we can find more, though. There's got to be a bunch of places that could use a few trees."

"Oh, absolutely," Julio says, reaching for his laptop. "I did a little digging and found a few sites that might be good candidates. I kept them pretty local, since we don't have a quick way to get in and out, and if we drive Jason's car too far we'll probably undo all the good we're doing for the environment-"

"Hey," Jason protests. "Lily isn't that bad!"

"The car," Tim stage whispers when Julio shoots him a confused look. "Her name is Lily."

Julio nods slowly. "Okay, Lily, whatever. Jason, I hate to break it to you, but Lily is a '67 Chrysler Newport, and there's no way you're not breaking a little more of Mother Earth's heart every time you step on the gas."

"Fine," Jason grumbles. "So I drive a terrible car. We can walk if it bugs you that much."

"I'm surprised it doesn't bug you, actually," Tim says thoughtfully. "It affects the plants, after all."

Jason sighs like Tim is making him bare his soul. "I might give them a little, y'know, boost. While I'm driving through."

Tim stares, but before he can formulate a response, Julio jumps in. "You use your power to lessen the impact your car has on the environment?"

"So?" Jason says defensively.

"Nothing, man," Julio replies, leaning back a little. "That's… actually kind of awesome."

Now Jason looks a little embarrassed. "Well, now we're all using our powers to do a little good. In ways that don't involve beating up the bad guys, I mean."

"Go team us," Tim agrees. "Okay, let's take a look at what Julio found. These parks aren't going to create themselves."

**Author's Note:**

> yes, yes, there are more ideas here, and i have a few really amusing-to-me lines that i didn't get to use in this installment. there may be another. MORE PARKS.


End file.
